


Her First Crusade for the Truth

by Brynstein



Series: Finally, a Family They Deserve [2]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 11
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:15:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26515816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brynstein/pseuds/Brynstein
Summary: Mulder and Scully's daughter plans to continue her parents' work and expose the conspiracy to cover up the truth about all things paranormal. However, only being six years old, Lily has to make do by telling her class during a homework presentation. And so entails Mulder and Scully's first trip to the principal's office as parents.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Series: Finally, a Family They Deserve [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927813
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I received a suggestion/prompt on the chapter, A Pink Tutu, from my other work, Fluff Stuff and Other Stuff, for more from the post-canon universe where Mulder and Scully have a daughter. I hope this delivers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess you could say this is canon divergent because I refuse to believe that Skinner is dead. He's only referenced, so it's not really a problem, but he is alive. I'm also going to quickly add here that I have no idea what American schools are like, so I have no idea whether this is going to be realistic or not. But hey, its fiction: any mistakes will be labeled under artistic license.

Mulder's footsteps echoed throughout the dark house and the floorboards creaked in complaint. On tiptoes, he softly treads to the end of the landing, spying the yellow light spilling out from under the door. He waited, holding his breath, listening. He reached for the handle, wincing as the old, wooden door opened with a groan.

Inside, Lily was curled under her blankets, just a small lump at one end of the bed. Her frizzy hair had a way of getting everywhere, plastered to the pillow and her cheek alike. Even in a state of disarray, she looked peaceful.

Mulder smiled uncontrollably, emotion surging through him like his beam growing from ear to ear. He cautiously continued in order to turn the bedside light off, stopping first to crouch down and brush away the whisps of hair from her face. He placed a featherlight kiss to her forehead only then catching sight of some crayons and a piece of paper behind her. He plucked the rogue items from the bed, placing them on the nightstand out of the way. As for the piece of paper clutched in his grasp, he needed more time to comprehend its true meaning and he needed to show Scully.

With a click, the room was plunged into darkness and the journey back to the door seemed twice as perilous. When he finally pulled the door to, Mulder breathed a sigh of relief, safe at last on the other side. His walk to his own door was more gallant, excited by the thing he carried so carefully.

"Knock, knock," he whispered from behind his own door, peering round to see Scully in her glasses, reading a book.

She looked up, frowning. "Since when do you knock, Mulder?"

"Never too late to learn manners. Besides, look what I found." He withdrew the piece of paper from behind his back, waving it enticingly in front of him.

Putting her book down, she eyed him curiously. "You have me intrigued."

Mulder clambered into his side of the bed, stealing some of the comforter from where it was pulled up under Scully's arms. She swatted at his hand and tugged it back again, to which he pouted.

"What is it then?" she urged him.

"Ta-dah!" He brandished the paper before her, finally revealing what all the fuss was about. "We have officially made it into the parent good books."

Scully gently took the drawing, holding it in reverence. Her lips parted to speak, but words failed her. She turned to Mulder, meeting his gleaming eyes, his grin barely contained. She could see in his face everything she couldn't say; he exuded unabashed pride. That warmth pulled her in and Scully smiled just to see him smile. Her focus returned to the picture, to the title 'My faivorit surperherose', and to the comic strip of them fighting monsters. She turned back to him, eventually whispering, "all those stories we told her, I never thought she was so enamoured by them."

"Who wouldn't be, Scully? Look, we're superheroes! We're fighting aliens!" He pointed to each square with the excitement as if he were a child himself. "And there you're slicing 'n dicing, probably whilst I'm off elsewhere writing up the reports."

Scully scoffed, "well, that never happened."

"I don't know what you mean," he huffed indignantly. "I was perfectly adequate at the paperwork."

"Trying to get you to do paperwork was like trying to feed a cat medicine. I swear sometimes I had to actually stroke your throat to get you to swallow the task," she added, muttering the last part under her breath. It had always amazed her how Mulder could be so devoted to his job- often to the point of obsession- yet when it came down to the nitty-gritty real stuff, suddenly the ceiling needed redecorating with sharpened, yellow, HB weapons.

"Only because like everything else, you were better at it than me," he sulked.

Scully rolled her eyes at his half-hearted excuse and returned back to the comic strip. With all the monsters that captured their daughter's imagination, she wondered if Lily would have a different opinion if she had been there to see how it really was. One particular man stood out to her.

"Do you think 'strechee man' is... Tooms?" she asked apprehensively, already knowing the answer. A cold shiver came over her as she remembered his glowing eyes that had stalked all those years ago. It was a dim memory now, a whisper of another life. Looking back, she had been so green and the attack had felt personal. It still felt personal the god-knows-how-many other times it happened afterwards, but this one had only been her third case and had shaken her to her core. Despite her daughter's obvious intrigue with monsters, she wondered if Lily would have a different opinion if she had been there to see how it really was.

Mulder, too, remembered that case, although for an altogether different reason. Sat with dour expression in the interrogation room whilst agents had ridiculed him, Scully had stuck up for him, but more than that, she had proven they were in it together. He might have been the tiniest bit possessive over Scully- perhaps the first true inkling to how he really felt- telling her as such at the time, even if she had thought he was talking about the case. A smirk crept into the smile he had at the thought of having her by his side all these years later. He impulsively wrapped an arm around her and nuzzled her temple.

"You know, it's never too late to be head of the Bureau," he whispered in her ear.

She chuckled. "Why would I when I'm the head of this house and I have everything I could possibly want right under its roof?"

Mulder pulled back from her, a questioning look stitched upon his brow. "Since when were you the boss?"

"Since when wasn't I?" she replied candidly, remaining poised with her look fixed upon the paper. In the final tile, she noticed not two but three figures standing in a hero stance, capes billowing enigmatically in the fictional breeze. They all wore serious expressions fit for their crime-fighting duties- apart from one. It didn't take a genius to correlate the character's goofy smile to the one Mulder had worn when he first presented this work. The character in the middle had long, orange hair like Scully's own, but the one to the side had no hair at all.

"Who's the bald man?" Scully asked.

Mulder had seen this as well and wondered who it could be. Lily hadn't met many people from their past lives as agents; there weren't that many people to meet. Although, one person afflicted with baldness did spring to mind. "Is that..." he had begun, hesitant to commit it to words.

"Skinner."

They both stared in silence.

The silence didn't last long, however, as an itch grew from deep within Mulder's lungs, which erupted in a laugh- to think their ex-boss had been immortalised at the hand of a six-year-old so perfectly. Scully had to agree upon its comic nature; there was a sternness about him that was undeniably humorous.

"She's really captured his grumpiness," she mused. "It's uncanny."

Mulder couldn't help but laugh again. "We should definitely send him a photo."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate that." Scully looked as though she wanted to say something further but hesitated, the words hanging from her lips. "But Mulder," she started, "don't you think it's odd having our lives caricatured and romanticised?"

"Scully, I think you're missing the point," he urged her in earnest. "Lily thinks we used to be real superheroes. How cool is that?"

"Don't most children see their parents as superheroes to some extent at this age? Parents are the first role models that children encounter, so they look up to them when they are young and impressionable," she reasoned. "I know I always saw Ahab like that."

"But this Batman and Robin level super!" he implored her.

"Batman is... cool... I guess."

"Scully," he said measuredly, taking the comic back from her grasp. "I don't mean to rain on your parade, but in this scenario, I am the Batman of the pair of us."

"You've always been my sidekick, Mulder." She rested a cheek to his arm and smiled.

"That's not true: you're my sidekick," he teased her. "Not forgetting, of course, my best friend, the love of my life, the mother of my child, and all the other things, which for the sake of not digging myself in further, I will let you fill out," he added just to be on the safe side.

"Like my sidekick," she smirked, huddling up to him more closely. He eyed her suspiciously, but she only gave him her innocent gaze.

Scully had no idea why they still did it- wound each other up. There seemed to be no point other than because they could. Because proving each other wrong came naturally to them. Because it was still endearing to see the other fluster. Every time she challenged him, it reminded her of their old coded flirting and how much they meant to each other even before they recognised it.

"Sure, Scully," he muttered, knowing she had won and so decided to change the subject. "What do we do with it? I think it's definitely fridge-worthy art."

She sighed. "We should put it back so she doesn't realise its missing; you know how she is when things go missing."

"Her mother's daughter," he hummed.

"Yet she hasn't figured the art of putting things away- for which I am blaming you." She looked him straight in the eye, a hint of seriousness behind her humorous mask.

"That's hardly fair," he protested. "I've tried teaching her where the box is for her toys, it's just that on some genetic level, mess makes her happy. Some people thrive off disorganised environments."

"Mulder. She is six. All six-year-olds thrive off of mess if that means they don't have to put stuff away. But you are not six, so you'd better put that back before we have an earful tomorrow."

Mulder reluctantly got out of bed, feeling the warmth leach from him into the cold surrounding air. Stumbling across the floor, he through he a playful look. "I'm six at heart, Scully, clever as clever, and I'll be six forever and ever."

She threw his pillow at him with a giggle. "Go on."

Scully was drifting off by the time the door creaked open again. She half-opened one eye and saw Mulder bend to pick up his pillow from the floor. She closed her eye again as the pillow came hurtling towards her, landing on the other side of her head. Even though her eyes were hidden behind their lids, Mulder was sure he saw them roll in their sockets.

He crawled into bed after her, seeking her like a beacon in the dead of the foggy night. 

"Did she wake?" she mumbled.

"Yeah but not before I put it back. I said I was just checking on her."

He cuddled up to her, seeking her warmth like the comfortable embers of a cottage fire during the winter storm. Wrapping himself around her from behind, he was like her armoured plating, custom-made to fit. She took his hand in hers, using it as an extra pillow beneath her cheek. Pressed so congruently together, he could feel the dull of their heartbeats together like a lullaby slowly drifting him to sleep.

"I've been thinking, Mulder." Her voice was heavy with tiredness, but she continued nevertheless. "You're not my sidekick."

He smiled into her hair. "Finally, she listens."

Scully turned to look into his eyes but was met with his resting face. Whilst his breathing was soft, she could tell he wasn't asleep just yet. "No, I just mean, you're my Mulder: we're equals."

He looked hazily at Scully then, her gentile face, mere inches from his, regarded him with an ethereal allure. Equality: the oldest unspoken agreement of theirs was the reason they had made it this far together. And they each knew that it was never in question. Their trusts, their friendship, their lives were built upon it. The corner's of Mulder's mouth tugged gently upwards as he thought all of this. "You're going all soppy on me," he murmured.

"Maybe I've mellowed. Or I'm just tired."

He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Don't worry, I won't hold it against you."

"I appreciate it," she smiled, sleep turning it into a yawn.

Mulder turned over and Scully leaned into him, resting her cheek against the plain of his back and anchoring them together with an arm cast over his side. He liked it when she was the big spoon despite the disparity in size. It was comforting to know she had his back and he knew she secretly liked hugging him like a giant teddy bear. And he secretly liked being a giant teddy bear.

"Sweet dreams, my sidekick," Mulder mumbled.

"Seriously, Mulder." She poked one of his ribs, which made him squeal- but not a girly squeal.

"Love you," he sheepishly replied, taking a hold of her hand and intertwining their fingers.

She dozily hummed against his top before the wreaths of sleep whispered to her and dragged her under towards dreamland.


	2. Chapter 2

Lily was energetic the next day, to say the least. All morning she had bounded about the house, asking every five minutes if it was school time. It was all her mother could do to get her to sit still long enough to eat breakfast. She skipped more than walked to school, a grin plastered to her small, round face. She had not been able to hide her excitement from her father who questioned her excessive giddiness when he dropped her off.

"No, Dad. I'm good," she tried her best to sound nonchalant, dialing her beam down to a shy smile.

"I can see that." He squeezed her hand. "But I was just wondering what has you shining like the morning sun."

"Nothing," she lied. She so badly wanted to tell him, but not yet. She wanted to make sure she had something to report.

"Good. You know children aren't allowed to have fun."

She looked up to see him smiling down at her. He ruffled the hair her mother had lovingly brushed only an hour or so ago and she giggled, preferring her hair a frizzy mess anyway, and knowing how much trouble her father would be in if her mother ever discovered what he did. She hugged his legs in a brief squeeze and then ran up the steps without a second look behind her, leaving Mulder slightly saddened by her absence.

In the hustle and bustle of the corridor, Lily weaved through all the legs of the other students, doubling her quick pace when she caught sight of Harper at the far end.

"Hey, Harper!" she called, stumbling in her jubilance to overtake some of the upper years.

At the sound of her best friend's voice, Harper spun around with a gleeful smile.

Lily saw the piece of paper she was carrying, similar to her own, and tried to nosy a peak. Harper laughed, holding it up out of her reach, waving it tauntingly.

"Come on," whined Lily. "What superheroes did you choose?"

Harper presented her drawing, beaming with pride. "I chose my mom because she saves lots of people because she's a firefighter."

Lily clamored with excitement, "I chose my mom too!"

She took her bag off of her shoulders and started rummaging through for the paper she had hidden there earlier. A furrowed expression of concentration she earnt from her mother weaved into her eyebrows. Eventually, she withdrew it and showed it to Harper with equal pride. "And I also chose my dad because they were like spies fighting monsters."

Harper pointed to the exact same drawing that, unbeknownst to her, the heroine of the piece had worried over the night before. "I hope you tell everyone about the stretchy man story. That one's my favorite."

"He climbs down chimnies-" Lily began over-dramatically.

"Like Santa!" Harper chimed in.

"And then eats your guts!" they both giggled in bountiful flows of hysterics.

Later during class, Lily clutched her homework close to her chest, excitement bubbling in her stomach. She had listened intently to all the other stories, which paled in comparison to her tales of adventure she had to share. It was nearly her turn to stand up and speak. She was going to tell everyone the truth like her parents did. She was going to make her parents proud.

She stumbled on shaky legs as she made her way to the front of the class. Searching the crowd of faces for support, she looked to Harper and they exchanged small smiles from across the room. Lily took a deep breath and began.

"My favorite superheroes are my mom and dad because they are real-life superheroes.

"Before I was born, they used to fight monsters and protect the country– just like Batman. They fought aliens, and ghosts, and daemons–"

One of the tougher boys started to laugh. "Everybody knows monsters aren't real!"

Lily felt the beginnings of a red heat rising in her belly. It surged through her until it met her cheeks and the warmth expelled itself.

"They are!" She stood defiantly. "My mom and dad fought all of them."

"You're lying!" A girl from the front sneered.

"I'm not. It's true!"

The teacher rose to keep the class in order. "You will listen to Lily and respect what she has to say. Any questions you have, you can ask at the end."

Lily never heard this; the noise of her own thoughts swimming around her head clouded her hearing. She looked at her best friend for support. She had told her all about the monsters and the aliens, Lily knew that she would understand. Harper would tell them the truth. Harper believed.

Harper was sat timidly, wishing she was brave enough to tell them all that they were wrong, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words and sacrifice herself for ridicule, questioned like a bug under a magnifying glass. Instead, she looked down and questioned whether she believed the stories, guilt wrapping her in layers.

"How do you know?" Another boy chipped in, not cruelly but curiously. Lily, though, by this point felt as though she was facing a sea of ridicule, swamped with the feeling alienation.

"They told me." Her voice faltered as she answered, still looking at Harper.

"Then they're lying," the first boy reasoned.

The red burst from within her, overwhelming in its power and devastation. Lily turned to face him, angry tears welling in her eyes. "My mom and dad. Aren't. Liars!"

She no longer felt in control of her actions, instead steered by animosity and embarrassment. It was like someone else scrunched her picture into a ball and threw it to the floor. It was like someone else ran out of the classroom with nowhere to go. It was, however, Lily who felt lost.


	3. Chapter 3

Mulder swiveled in his chair, thinking back to the comic strip Lily had captured them in. His own documentation of their cases, stared back at him from the computer screen, the midday glare of the sun, paling the words and with a wandering mind. Halfway through a paragraph, he stopped, restless, the spring sun, and a tingle for adventure had gotten to him. It wafted in through the window that Scully insisted he opened if he was ever going to work in his office again. He wiggled his toes, tapped his feet, hastily saved the document, and leapt off his chair, realising the only cure for his restlessness would be a good, old-fashioned run.

An hour later and the front door swung open again. Mulder ambled in, drenched head to foot in sweat. After a long, cooling shower, he sat once again at his desk, the writer's block immediately returning, the paragraph remaining half-finished.

His brow was still furrowed in thought when he distinctly heard the front door open and close again, though softer this time. He smiled, as the footsteps following up the stairs were matching in lightness. She entered, unannounced, simply sharing his grin as she peered around the door.

"You're back early, " he observed.

Scully perched against his desk to the side of him, clasping her hands almost expectantly. "No classes after lunch, nothing to mark: I thought I'd take the afternoon off."

He looked up at her, noting her rosy complexion, a slight blush to her cheeks.

"And how was it teaching all those fine, young med students?"

"Tedious. Hard work. Rewarding," she mulled, pursing her lips. "The usual."

The tip of her tongue darted out to subconsciously wet her lip. It torturously glistened in the sunlight, capturing Mulder's imagination. He could have been mistaken, but she looked different, her eyes were... darker as if they were looking inward rather than seeing outward. Her fingertips tapped rhythmically on the back of her hands, quietly drumming three beats in repeat, like footsteps tangoing for two beating hearts. With a cant of her head, she questioned him, and as if in answer, her tongue made the journey out to her lip again.

Mulder followed the tilt of Scully's head with his own, never breaking eye contact with her. "You're looking at me funny, Doc, should I be worried?"

Scully ignored this, pushing herself up from the desk and walking behind him. Her fingers, still restless, continued their dance on his shoulders, as she peered over. "How's the book coming along?"

Her hands waltzed down his torso, fingers playing over the toned muscle beneath his clean t-shirt.

"Tedious. Hard work," he grinned. "The usual."

"Take a break with me," she murmured enticingly in his ear, her breath tickling him until he squirmed in his seat.

Mulder chuffed a laugh. "Is this why you came home early?"

She decorated his jawline with soft, little kisses. "Maybe."

Scully lay claim to his heart and the rational side of him was quickly dissolving. He stared at the computer, willing himself to finish the paragraph but the tapping on the keyboard was never heard, his mind too preoccupied to string sentences together. He stared a moment longer before giving in.

"Scully," he whined. "You're distracting me."

It was not entirely true; he had managed to distract himself with the utmost proficiency before her arrival. Knowing him well, she knew this was the case and wasn't the least bit remorseful. She simply agreed with him with a hum. 

"You know I find you irresistible at the best of times," he sighed, frustratedly cursing his own weak will, aware that his want was evident.

She smirked playfully, pecking his cheek. "I'm counting on it."

Mulder's phone, which had been sat quietly on the desk, pinged into life, unceremoniously chirping the Twilight Zone theme as it rang. A long look passed between them as each tried to suss the other's intentions.

"Don't get that." Scully finally pleaded.

"It could be important," he countered, transfixed by her intense stare.

The phone continued to ring, Scully's annoyance growing with each note. Mulder innocently looking up at her, held her gaze until he dared to glance at the caller ID. Her bright blue eyes caught his as they flicked back to meet her again.

"I think it's the school ringing." 

Scully softened, her forehead rumpling in bewilderment. "Why are they ringing? Lily isn't ill– at least she wasn't this morning."

"I don't know–" his composure became smug, finally winning one over on her– "if you let me answer, I could tell you."

"Fine," she sighed and held her hands up, releasing him. "I relent."

Mulder reached out for the phone quickly before it rang out.

"Hello... Yeah... Okay..." He pulled a confused face at Scully. "Can I ask why?... Lily isn't that kind of kid... No, I know... Thank you. We'll be there."

Scully listened intently, trying to discern what the school could possibly have to say. She grew more concerned with each of Mulder's answers as they clouded the mystery rather than shedding light. "So, what was it?" she asked apprehensively.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead, trying to ease the perplexion that had wrinkled it. "Lily got into some trouble this morning. They want us to go down and have a talk with the principal."

Scully nodded. She knew that there would eventually be consequences for Lily's unruly temper, but she hadn't expected them to arise so soon.

"Apparently it involves us. I said we'd be there talk before we collect her."

"Okay," she sighed and slumped against the desk again. She spent a minute in contemplation, making the room falling into a silence audible to Mulder– she was a loud thinker. "How long have we got until then?"

"Two hours?" He looked up at her, smiling.

She smirked in return. "Ample time."

Mulder was lead by his hand out of the office, leaving behind him the paragraph fated to remain unfinished.


	4. Chapter 4

The drive out to the school was a long one Scully made in quiet contemplation. The hum of tires on the road flowed like music through her ears. Her eyes fixed in a gaze out of the window, watching the middle distance fly past with each revolution of the wheels. She was vaguely aware of Mulder's frequent glances to her and the sticking of his hands to the leather as he clenched and unclenched the steering wheel.

"Scully, you okay?" he asked as he turned his head for the thousandth time.

"Hm? Oh.. yeah."

She smiled reassuringly and he dropped the subject, knowing he wasn't going to get a better answer if he pushed her.

Mulder could see that nerves were still gnawing at her when they exited the car, so soothed her worry with a palm to the small of her back. The ancient remedy for all ills that grounded her and strengthened their tether to one another. He could feel the tension leave her muscles as soon as his hand rested in place and they made their way to the school reception.

Scully left the harbour of his touch, walking steadily up to the front desk. A chipper woman behind looked up through bright eyes, regarding her amiably as she approached.

"Are you Mr. and Mrs. Mulder?" she inquired about their presence.

Mulder smiled smugly at the common mistake. Some day, he thought.

"No, I'm Miss Scully," she graciously corrected. "But we are both Lilyan Mulder's parents, here to see the principal."

"That's great. If you could sign-in on the sheet and I'll let her know you're here."

Scully picked up the pen and felt herself relaxing a little, the simple admin a cathartic release. However, the hairs on the back of her neck tickled and stood at attention because she sensed the presence of Mulder appear behind her. He replaced his hand at her lower back. An uncomfortableness became him when he was unconnected to her, like how his hand itched from the sensory lack of its matching puzzle piece. It was inevitable when they had been sharing each other's personal space since the day they met. He closed this space further still by whispering discreetly in her ear.

"Are you ever going to marry me?"

"Not if you ask like that." She put the pen down and smiled at him.

"Is that a promise?" he asked with a hopeful gleam in his eye.

She ended the conversation with a roll of her own.

They sat for a while in companionable silence, waiting to be called. Scully observed her surroundings, noticing the detail of children's work postered around whilst Mulder drifted back through the years, remembering all the times he was sat in the same chairs but as a child in trouble. He was no longer a lanky kid covered in cuts and bruises, suffering the occasional black eye. He wasn't waiting for his mother with his head hung low and his spirit freshly trampled by a bully. Now he was a father waiting for his own child. It was familiar but not quite right, like viewing the events through the wrong end of the telescope. He chuckled– who knew he would ever be here again?

"What?" Scully asked.

"I just thought I'd never be on this side of the situation- the parent and not the kid waiting outside the principal's office," he shrugged.

"I take it you regularly were sat here." She stated it rather than questioned, aware that respecting authority was never his favourite hobby.

"More times than I can count," he recalled with an air of wistfulness. "I didn't go looking for trouble though, trouble had its way of finding me."

She let out an honest laugh. "Isn't that the story of your life."

"People didn't like me anyway when they found out I was some UFO nut the had it in for me. I got into a few fights defending Samantha's honour," he chuckled again. 

Scully laughed too, recounting one of her memories from her younger years. "I was sent to the principal's office once for punching one of the boys in Bill's year. He called Bill 'girly' for having freckles, so I showed him what girly really meant."

Mulder stared at her in astonishment. "How did you manage that on short legs?"

She swayed into him, nudging him in rebuke. "I'm not that short, Mulder."

He looked unconvinced, but she continued, "Bill was annoyed with me because I showed him up but I learned a valuable lesson that day."

"Pick on someone your own size?" he suggested.

She gave him a wry smile. "Always follow through after you connect."

"You were a little G-Woman in the making." He affectionately returned her nudge, still enthralled by the childhood tale she remarked so off-handedly. "And here Lily is following our footsteps. Is that nature or nurture?"

"Either way," she sighed, "we both gave her our stubborn streaks."

Mulder looked down at his hands and guiltily picked at his nails before looking back up to Scully. "Is it bad that I feel proud of her?"

She was in the middle of shaking her head disapprovingly– albeit with a smirk– when a stern-looking, older woman opened an adjoining door. The woman readjusted her round glasses and tucked a piece of greying hair behind her ear as she welcomed the pair into her office.

"Hello, Mr. Mulder, Miss Scully, please come in. Have a seat."

The principal sat down behind her desk, glanced over the incident report, and readjusted her glasses again. Mulder passed this time idly wondering what she would look like if he substituted her grey curls with a bald head and added a white beard to her chin. Perhaps he'd been in too many meetings where Skinner had reprimanded him on his conduct.

"We felt it was worth calling you in today because Lilyan's behaviour was uncharacteristically disruptive. Is everything alright at home?"

"Yes." Mulder quickly answered. Things had never been better. He was happy, so was Scully, and Lily was a whole bundle of energy, constantly excited about everything around her. Life itself seemed to have been born again, refreshed. He was reminded of its invigorating qualities when Lily had been running around the house that morning. "In fact, she was excited to go to school today, although she was secretive about the whole thing."

Scully leaned forward in her seat, adopting a more serious, businesslike composure. "On the phone, you said that somehow we were involved."

"Yes, that was another reason why we wanted to talk to you. Recently the children were set homework to create a short comic about one of their favourite superheroes, that they could later present to the class." The principal smiled kindly at them. "You'll be pleased to know that Lilyan chose both of you for her homework.

"However, the homework specifically told them to focus on one hero. And she has failed to follow the instructions set, which lead us to believe that she did the task without adult supervision."

Scully had to hold back a harsh remark about the pettiness of the situation. It angered her that they had been made to worry about Lily, over what appeared to be something so trivial. Although, she needn't have bothered in restraint as Mulder spoke up in her absence.

"I would argue that by drawing both of us she has shown traits of diplomacy and creativity, in presenting us as one unit, which should be praised," he defended.

The principal inhaled curtly. "We encourage children their creativity, but we also expect that they learn to follow simple rules, which is exactly why we need parents to guide their children towards what is expected of them."

"We did ask Lily if she had any homework, but she told us that she hadn't," Scully tried to explain, but was met with an unwavering expression that left her with the same feeling she used to get when trying to validate why E.B.Es had been included in an official Federal report.

"You'll have to excuse me, Miss Scully, for saying that responsibility for homework at this young age doesn't fall entirely on the child."

"No, of course," she faintly agreed.

Mulder silently reached out and grasped her hand under the desk.

The principal continued. "Secondly, during the presentation, Lilyan spoke of 'aliens, ghosts and daemons', and when provoked started to shout that you 'aren't liars'. She later ran out of the classroom in a distressed state." She looked up from the incident report with a puzzled expression but had seen enough to see it all, and soon dismissed it. She clasped her hands. "We are not placing blame on Lilyan here, and the other children have been dealt with, but I have to ask, do you know why Lilyan said those things during her presentation?"

"She was probably trying to unmask the conspiracy to the wider population and let the truth be known," Mulder said entirely seriously and without a hint of regret.

Scully dug her heal into his toe, lamenting her sneakers were not as effective as the old heals she used to wear when she had to do the same thing in Skinner's office.

"You'll have to excuse him." She gave Mulder a sideways glare. "But it is true that we were federal agents and it's possible those stories have just been caricatured by a child's mind."

The principal raised an eyebrow in a way that reminded Mulder of Scully's own disposition to the incredulous. "I don't know what stories you've been telling Lilyan but we don't want to see this kind of behaviour again. She's a bright girl; we don't want her turning into a troublemaker."


	5. Chapter 5

Mulder left the office exasperated.

"See that, Scully? Will nobody believe us?" he bitterly uttered.

She stopped him with a hand on his chest, pleading with him, making his words falter. Her head was hung low and her eyes closed. She shook her head slightly as she looked skywards and then to him. Her tongue was poised on her lip, like she was holding back something she needed to let go, thinking something she needed to say.

Mulder saw all of this instantly and rubbed her shoulders reassuringly, letting her take her time.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at him glassy-eyed and full of uncertainty. She whispered just loud enough for him to hear, "Mulder, are we bad parents?"

At the mere suggestion that Scully could ever believe such a thing, his stomach plummeted. "Scully, we are awesome parents. And Lily is an awesome kid."

He drew her in close to his heart and she rested her head against his solid chest like he was the buttress to her crumbling emotions.

"I just find myself wondering what my mom would do– what she did do with us. Sometimes I want to talk to her so bad..." her voice rose harshly, a desperate gasp of air filling her lungs.

"I do too." His voice hummed deeply in his chest up to where his lips were pressed to the crown of her head. "Whenever Lily does anything, I wonder how I could tell my mom, or yours. Just to share it with people who would understand.

"I'm just lucky I have you."

He felt his t-shirt slowly dampen, although she barely made a sound.

Scully's voice was hoarse and raspy when she tried to explain, the words tumbling out an uncontrollable stream. "I always fear that I can never do right by her... It was so hard to love her after William without feeling the guilt. And now she's drawing like him. And I don't know how to explain that to her: how proud I am of them both for being so expressive and artistic. I feel like I owe her better. And I should owe her a big brother to help her and teach her how to draw... "

Mulder wanted to share in her tears but felt the need to stay strong and sober whilst he lent his shoulder to help bear her load. He only swayed gently and repeatedly whispered, "I know. I know."

"How do we do this, Mulder? What if this is just the first instance of many?"

He took her face between his palms and gently stroked the tears away from the rose of her cheeks. Those overflowing blue orbs offered entire oceans he could swim in forever, losing himself only to find her soul on the other side of the windows that were her beautiful irises. Mulder's gentleness mellowed her somewhat. Scully steeled herself but the aftershocks still rippled through her, shaking her words as she spoke them.

"I love her... And him... And you."

The shrill cry of the school bell was heard and a stampede of children flooded the corridor outside, their heavy footsteps an eager announcement of freedom for the day. The din soon lessened and almost everybody had left when they first heard the distinctive patter of small feet running in their direction. From around the corner, Lily came hurtling towards them into the reception.

Scully straightened and put on a calm face, thankful that Mulder had already dried her eyes.

"Mommy!"

Lily crashed into Scully's legs and didn't let go.

"Lilyan, what's the matter? Are you okay?" she asked, putting on a strong, reassuring voice. She stroked her hair, but Lily didn't look up, her face still buried in Scully's leg.

"Mommy, they said you are liars, I tried to tell them but they didn't believe me. Harper didn't believe me. I thought she believed me but she didn't say anything," she babbled into her slacks.

"Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry."

Lily sobbed. "She's my best friend, she would have said something if she was my best friend."

Mulder bent down to Lily's level and gently took her hand from around her mother's leg. Holding it in his own, he won her attention.

"Best friends are hard to come by, so you keep them close and don't let go of them, okay? You remember that." He briefly smiled up at Scully.

"They said you lied," she softly cried.

Scully crouched down too, drying the stray tears from Lily's cheeks in a soothing way only a mother could.

"There are a lot of times when people don't believe us, but that doesn't mean that they can't be there for you. I quite often don't believe all the things that happen in your father's stories– and I was there for most of them," she chuckled. "But that doesn't mean that I don't love him. Your classmates may not believe you, but that doesn't mean they are bad people. You can still be friends with them. "

Lily held a blank expression and Scully started to wonder if she had heard any of what she had said.

"Did you lie?" she finally asked.

Mulder gathered her in his arms and picked her up. He brushed her Scully-red locks behind her ears, watching her eyes glisten with fear of betrayal. Her small, rosy face drawn in such a sorrowful and pained complexion almost broke him, plunging his heart through his stomach for the second time.

"We only told you what we believe, but different people believe different things and that's okay. The world would be a very boring place if we all believed the same thing."

Lily looked at them both and nodded, letting their parental wisdom sink in. Whilst she understood what they had said, she couldn't understand why they would say such things when they had spent their lives fighting for the truth. What made the truth worth forgetting when people should be made to see it? She clung to her father's shoulder and after a while whispered "I know you didn't lie."

Scully kissed Lily's forehead and stroked her hair. "Come on, let's go home. Daddy says he's going to make you potato waffles for dinner."

Lily straightened like the hackles on a dog's neck.

"Waffles?!"

Her face lit up, the day's troubles quickly waning at the mention of waffles. She became giddy with excitement. If it hadn't been for the fact that Mulder was carrying her as they walked to the car, she would have surely bounded up and down in approval.

"Only if I get to eat them all," Mulder teased her.

Lily sulked. "That's not fair. I want tato waffles too."

"Maybe if you ask nicely, I might let you have some."

She pouted in that way that was so Mulder-like, looking up through round, hazel eyes, pleading for all her worth. "Please can I have tato waffles for dinner?"

He chuckled at his own puppy eyes reflected back at him from her face.

Scully tutted at him. "Yes, of course, he's only teasing you."

Mulder readjusted Lily on his hip and fumbled about in his pocket for the keys– it was a good job she was still fairly small. "I've been thinking, Scully, we're not sidekicks; we're more like co-conspirators."

He withdrew them with a triumphant grin, overenthusiastically throwing them upwards to catch them.

She gave him an eyebrow as she opened the door. "Like partners in crime?"

He pondered her question- they had certainly known their fair share trouble, but he liked to think that all the times they had breeched conduct it was for a greater purpose. "Well, we were partners in crime-fighting," he huffed as he placed Lily in the car. Considering the little trouble-maker that was theirs, he broke out into a big grin and ruffled her hair. "And I would like to stay on the right side of the law- we wouldn't want this one getting any ideas."

"I'm always good!" she protested, wiggling indignantly in her seat.

"Most of the time," Scully chuffed.

Mulder winked knowingly at Lily whilst her mother checked the belt, eliciting a spell of giggles from her that made Scully's job more difficult. Scully made sure he got the warm end of her glare, too amused to be entirely angry with him. Closing the door, she turned to him and took his hand. "Partners is just fine for me."

Giving her a mischievous look, he squeezed her hand. "You'll make a husband out of me one day."


End file.
